I’d done all the official stuff and crossed the border from Uruguay into Brazil. I found the Pousada Chui (hotel) which was recommended on iOverlander. It was about 6:00pm but the lady said I couldn’t check in yet? It was now I realised that not speaking any Portuguese was going to be a hassle in Brazil. I found a small shop around the corner selling beer and there was a young, skinny, dark skinned, happy guy there who not only spoke English but seem to speak lots of languages and was super friendly. You meet a person just like him in every country. He was happy to chat for a bit but then it got busy and I wanted to go back to my fully loaded bike which was parked outside the hotel. I sat on the edge of the gutter enjoying my beer and a guy turned up who obviously was the owner or manager and he checked me in. Nice room. Huge, covered shed for the bike. And only $35AUD. I like Brazil already.

I wandered downtown which was two blocks away and to no surprise I found you could just cross the street and you were back in Uruguay. Town was basically one main street which was called Chuy on the southern side and Chui on the northern side. And just to confuse things the Brazil side of the street was called Avenida Uruguay and the Uruguay side of the street was called Avenida Brazil. I stood in the middle of the intersection with a foot in each country and took a photo. Not an overly exciting one. You could use either currency, Brazilian Real or Uruguayan Peso, on either side of the street. The main difference was that there were heaps of Duty Free shops and a couple of small casinos on the Uruguay side and none on the other side. And several big grocery stores on the Brazil side. I met another multilingual guy there called Jamal or Abdul who owned the supermarket and said all the Uruguayans for a 100kms come to the Brazilian side of Chui to buy their groceries as they were less than half the price. And none of them would pass through the border posts as you could just take a side street around it. I finally bought a pair of Havaianas thongs to replace the pair I had lost in Bolivia. $8AUD Bargain.

Next morning I packed my bags and popped back into town to get a Brazilian sim card for my phone. You had to buy it at a pharmacy. It ended up taking over an hour with phone calls to the service provider. The guy was so helpful, and the customers patiently waited while he was talking on the phone. And the sim card with a couple of weeks of data was $6AUD! He eventually got it working and everyone was happy. I was very grateful though as I have heard that getting a Brazilian sim can be difficult. I was off.

My plan is to head pretty quickly to Rio de Janeiro which was about 2000kms away but first I need to get a bike service, and the next big town was Pelotas. The map showed lots of small coastal towns but in reality they all seemed about the size and height of the Gold Coast. I arrived at the Honda dealer in Pelotas mid afternoon and hoped to make an appointment for the next day. They were friendly but no one spoke English and it all seemed quite confusing. Eventually, through the translation app they said that the paperwork side of my service was too complicated but if I just want the oil and oil filter changed then they could do that straight away and there would be no charge. It seemed wrong but I did want an oil change so I agreed and thought I’d recheck the translation and sort the payment thing out later. Turns out that the translation was correct. No charge. Parts or labour. They all came and shook my hand and wished me a safe journey. How nice. I’m liking these Brazilians. I continued on another 100kms to the town of Cristal.

There was a nice hotel just over the river as I arrived in town, and it was recommended on iOverlander so I stayed there. Nice hotel, $45AUD with breakfast. I checked in and went for a wander. A small town with an interesting little park in the centre. It looked like a small patch of the original jungle. It was cool and dark and you expected a wild animal to jump out from behind a tree. Or maybe a mugger? It was a complete contrast to the land I had been riding through which was basically endless farmland. In some ways it was sad to think that all this area was once wild jungle but now just grows crops of sugar cane, maize and soy bean.

Next day was a shorter ride to Porto Alegre. I pulled into a petrol station and bought a coke and looked for somewhere to stay. I found an apartment which was just nearby and booked it. I thought it would be nice to arrive somewhere early for a change and have a walk around. The apartment was old but good and one of the only places I could find with parking (Manhattan Apt. $41AUD). I booked it online but when I arrived there was no office. You had to check in with an app and a passcode on your phone. And it wasn’t meant for foreigners like me. I ended up getting in okay by using the buzzer/camera thing on the door and eventually got put through to some woman who spoke English and was possibly in Peru? And some guy call Senor Carlos who appeared out of nowhere with a key and then disappeared. Totally weird but it worked.  The city has about 1.4 million people. I was staying near the old part in the centre. I had a good walk around but it was the sort of place where you wouldn’t want to be wandering around after dark.

Next day after a weird exit where I just sat in front of a camera until the gate magically opened, I rode north along the coast so I could look at more farmland and huge small cities full of apartment blocks and construction. I rode into Florianopolis because it a weird little appendage on the coast of Brazil with a weird name, so it just seemed appropriate to ride in. I had thought I might stay there the night but after crossing the big bridge and going through the tunnel I thought I’d seen enough and so I just retraced my route back to the main rode and rode another 130kms until it was starting to get dark. I picked a roadside hotel but it seemed locked and no one was answering the bell. Another guy in a tiny car was also trying to check in. There was another guy sitting out the back drinking a beer. He spoke to the other potential client with lots of pointing and I assume directions and then he nodded and then he signalled me to follow him in his tiny car. Then it started to get strange.

I assumed we’d just head down the road but we went for miles. Through little towns where the guy would slow down and ask directions and continue on. It went on for about 15 minutes.  I was intrigued and it was dark so I just kept following. We then drove up the wrong way on a small street and stopped outside a little place called Gengibre Hospederia. The guy let me check in first with my translator app and then he checked in. Turned out to be a beautiful little B&B ($50AUD) with a great breakfast and lovely host. We had a nice chat using my phone. She suggested a great little restaurant by the beach in a lovely spot where I had a really nice meal and a beer for $14AUD. There was this loud (visually and musically) that was cruising the streets and picking up partygoers. Next morning I ate the lovely breakfast that I didn’t need and headed off to Sao Paulo. On the way I saw a couple of these stores that had a huge Statue of Liberty out the front. You can see my bike in the first picture. I discovered that it’s free WiFi in the carpark near the statue. Sao Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil and the one where everybody said not to go.

With 12 million people in the city and about double that if you include the outer city limits, it a lot of city riding and a lot of traffic. I had pre booked at the Lindo Apartments. It was easy to find, had great parking, an easy person to person check in and all that for the bargain price of $84AUD for 2 nights. The apartment was great. It even had a big basin and drying rack on the balcony, so I did all my washing. But that wasn’t the highlight of my stay in Sao Paulo. That would be the next day.

I had been having trouble to get any cash at an ATM which was a pain, but I was managing to pay most stuff with my card and a few Brazilian Reales I still had from my first visit to Brazil. Also, my phone sim had stopped working so I had no internet without a Wi-Fi connection. And my continuing hunt for a yellow fever vaccination or at least a dodgy workaround continued. I can’t leave Brazil and go into French Guiana without a yellow fever certificate and it’s always on my mind. I always ask around in bigger cities and try places, but they all say the same thing, that I am too old. Sorry but we can’t give you one. There was a private vaccination Clinic and hours walk away and so I thought I’d walk there. On the way there was a public clinic with a short queue and so I stuck my head in and noticed a room that said Vaca. My translator wasn’t working without internet and the security lady didn’t really want t talk to me. I watched as the locals came in and pushed a sequence of buttons on a console thing and got a paper ticket with a number on it. I saw a lady put in the Vaca option when it came on the screen so when she took her ticket I jumped in and did the same sequence and got a ticket.

Five minutes later someone came out of the Vaca office and called out and she went in. When she came out I waited and then when the lady called out again I went in. It was a small room and the young nurse spoke perfect English. No. She spoke no English at all but was nice. I said I wanted Fiebre Amarillo which is Spanish for Yellow fever. She nodded and asked for my card. I showed her my passport and she said no. ID card. She then used google translate on her computer and said, no card no vaccine. I scrolled through my phone and showed her a photo of a thing on a computer screen that a young guy had insisted I should get when I crossed from Bolivia to Brazil months ago. I remember it was a hassle to get at the time but the young guy helping me was insistent that I get it. Turns out it was a CPF or Brazilian ID card.

Once she saw that she put the number into her computer and all my info popped up. She said something about ovo which I assumed was huevo which is egg in Spanish and I assumed she meant was I allergic to eggs? No. She disappears and returns with a vial and puts the info in the computer, signals for me to roll up my sleeve and wham. I have a yellow fever injection. But Brazil doesn’t give you a little yellow booklet like other countries. She told me via the computer that I need to log into my government account and download it. Okay then. Have a nice day. Bye.

So within about 15 minutes of arriving at the Health Unit I’m back out the front on the street and feeling light headed. The reason they don’t allow people over 59 to have the vaccine is because age increases the chance of a bad reaction. So I went back in a sat down near the entrance and sort of hoped if I collapsed they could put dos and dos together and sort me out!

Once my paranoia eased and my heart rate came back down and I thought that I probably wasn’t going to die, I headed off to sort the next task on my list. My phone internet. At least I could use it to translate that I had just had a yellow fever injection. I headed toward the old part of town and went in the wrong direction. I blamed the vaccine. I then thought that I need to sit down again and right behind me was a bank. I thought I’ll go in there to collapse in an airconditioned environment.  To make it look more legit I thought I’d try an ATM and suddenly BAM. It worked and I was able to get cash out. I was on a roll. And I still hadn’t died.

I was getting hungry and thought I would find somewhere with Wi-Fi and have breakfast and locate the phone place on my map. Do you think I could find a café with Wi-Fi? No. I then saw a phone gadget shop with a guy working in it who looked exactly like one of the electricians from Antarctica last year. I thought if that guy from Antarctica was here, he could fix my phone in a minute. Maybe all guys who look like that can fix phones. Long shot. But I was on a role. I told him in Spanish that my phone wasn’t getting internet, if people don’t speak English, then I just assume they will understand me if I speak Spanish. Which is a bit ironic actually, because even Spanish people don’t understand me when I speak Spanish. He flicked through a few screens on my phone, did something and then the internet came on and all my messages started downloading and he just smiled and gave me back my phone and went to serve a customer who just walked in. I found somewhere to have a nice breakfast, checked out a few local attractions, watched a Carnival group pass by and then walked home. Also a pic some homeless people with tents. So many homeless people in the big cities and even more in Sao Paulo. A totally successful day but I had one more thing to try before my luck ran out.

I needed to download proof of my yellow fever injection. I tried to work out how to log into my government account on my phone but it wasn’t working and I didn’t have one. My run had come to an end. I thought I’d try and do it on my computer. I wasn’t overly hopeful of doing it by myself as I had to set up the equivalent of a MyGov account in Brazil and I can’t even set up my one in Australia in English. I followed the links and put in my magic number from my photo, and it said to set up an account, I put in the info I had and then it said it had to ask me some secret questions. The first one was my birthday, and it gave me a list of several options. I picked the correct one. Then the next page asked me for my mothers first name? There were several options but only one of them wasn’t Portuguese and happened to be my mothers first name. I clicked on that and I was in. I couldn’t believe it. I set up a password and then went to the medical page and found my certificate. Very happy Shane. I downloaded and filed a copy and then went and laid down. Totally drained. Or dying of yellow fever.

I woke up and then wandered down the street to a little restaurant that sold skewers of meat. I had a beer while I waited and then the poor guy dropped my plate on the way to the table. He managed to save one. It was too hard to explain the 5 second rule to him so he went off and made me a couple more. I had another beer. They were so cheap and I felt sad he had to make me new ones. I hope he cleaned them up and ate them. And I’ve thrown in a couple of other random food photos from this week.

Next morning I had to ride to Rio. I had spotted a nice little café across the street so once I’d packed up, I popped over there and had a delicious fresh juice and probably the nicest croissant that I’ve ever had. It was sad to leave such a nice, cheap apartment with so many good food options around, but I had booked 2 nights in Rio and much to my disappointment and bad timing, Carnival was about to start. So, I was leaving Brazil’s largest and most dangerous city to ride to Rio which is the second largest city and full of people and traffic diversions for its biggest event of the year. A full day’s ride and a lot of city roads. What could go wrong?

KMS 31412